ADSL or 3G 4G

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Paulatic
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ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Paulatic »

The last month I’ve been trialling using a 3 4G router in the home for our internet needs. A £20 Smarty unlimited sim I’ve used 186Gb this month. All with a 3G signal (4G on Three not available here) with speeds between 8 and 22 Mbps. With no hitches or loss of signal streaming has been a pleasure.
This morning I went to Plusnet with the intention of cancelling the landline currently £33/ month (line rental and unlimited). On logging in there is an offer there waiting for me. £22/ month for what I already have. We receive 4 to 6 Mbps with ADSL which usually streams OK but can be prone to dropouts especially if a WCML train passes the electromagnetic field can halt things.
I’ve paused my decision. It’s a no brainier really to switch to mobile isn’t it? Yet I think because we’ve had a wired phone line all our lives there’s a little bit if me saying is it wise to leave it. No one rings on the landline anymore anyway.
Thoughts please :D
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mjr
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by mjr »

Is that the fastest ADSL available there? I'm paying £24/month for 34Mbps for a first year contract (so effectively paying more to cover installation and hardware) which is neither the cheapest nor fastest but acceptable on both, so I'd not stay on your current deal, even at £22/month. If landline can't get faster, I'd probably switch to mobile.
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backnotes
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by backnotes »

I would use a broadband checker like SamKnows https://availability.samknows.com/broad ... nd_checker to see the range of broadband services available at your address and what speed you could / should get. You may be getting an ADSL speed that could now be improved or upgraded, and not realise.

Having passing trains interfere with your broadband shouldn’t happen either.

Then I’d contact Plusnet and say you are unhappy with the speed and the interference and invite them to do better on speed / price and investigate the interference, because you are seriously considering a move to 3G mobile.

If you give up a landline, then after a while you could have to pay a reconnection charge if you ever wanted to get it back. So it makes sense to check what the best landline service / value you could get is before giving up the line.

If you already know you live many miles from the nearest fibre-enabled cabinet or exchange, then you can ignore the above. I was cursing my home broadband speed over ADSL, and didn’t realise that the cabinet just down the road had been upgraded to fibre to the cabinet.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by [XAP]Bob »

If your ADSL is that poor, then I'd go mobile.

Although it's worth giving them one chance to fix it
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axel_knutt
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by axel_knutt »

Gigaclear are laying FTTP here at the moment:

300Mb/s £49/month
600Mb/s £64/month
900Mb/s £79/month

https://www.gigaclear.com/braintree
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Psamathe
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Psamathe »

One consideration about speed - just a personal observation/thought: higher speeds allow more data faster but for things like browsing a lot can depend on the website server performance rather than how fast data is exchanged. Some sites are fast and line speed could affect some e.g. large image intensive sites but ADSL speed is not the sole determinant.

Later this year hopefully I'll be switching to Fibre to Property (not BT), but download speeds will be no faster (I might even opt for slower & cheaper) but the main thing for me is a far better upload speed. I upload a fair amount (e.g. images to cloud storage) and the A of ADSL means upload speeds to have an impact for me. But many people don't upload much (or upload is a very background process e.g. sending emails with images).

But then I'm the only person using my connection and homes with families, kids, etc. will have more going on so the speed will often be shared between several users making line speed more important.

I have no idea about OPs use nor how asymmetric upload and download speeds are over 3G/4G

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Paulatic
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Paulatic »

Thanks for the input so far.
I should add I have one of the best ADSL speeds in the village my neighbour 100 yds away is always slower. So much so with them both now working from home BT engineers spent three days here trying to improve it for them. Eventually they tapped into my on the ground line and dispensed with the overheads to his which helped. They then gave him an offer with EE mobile to work alongside it which isn’t great even with an outdoor antenna.
The issue with the trains has being going on now for some 15 years. We live 10 metres from the overheads and it can happen when they switch this section on usually 8 seconds before the train. At worst it was with every train. Network Rail or any of the train operators were of any real help. BT engineers say it’s a known problem and a solution often beats them. When the problem was really bad Plusnet tried everything they could with line and BT fitted upto date sockets. Personally I made it a lot better using a BT hub router instead of the Plusnet router. You can sometimes notice a dwell with the mobile router so I think the Ethernet cable must be responsible for some of it.
I’ve seen loads of great offers for broadband and then you put in your postcode :( "This service is not available in your area"
Speed wise I’m happy if we can have a couple of streams going. What we have does that and as I’m not running a business see no need for greater speeds.
backnotes wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 11:23am
If you give up a landline, then after a while you could have to pay a reconnection charge if you ever wanted to get it back. .
I think it’s this which made me hesitate this morning. Need to be really clear we will no longer need a line. Mobile does appear to offer many more benefits. We took the router away with us in the caravan which was good. All calls are included in that £20 if I plug a phone into the router. There are of course 4 major networks to choose from and no contract required. I’ve tried an EE sim and an O2 sim here in the router and while both of them are 4G speeds were no better with O2 speed a lot worse indoors.
Upload speed here ADSL around 700kb where as the 3G can be 2-3 Mbps
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Jdsk
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Jdsk »

I wouldn't expect anyone to say much about their own security systems, but alarms are often an issue in removing landlines.

Jonathan
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Paulatic
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Paulatic »

Jdsk wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 1:26pm I wouldn't expect anyone to say much about their own security systems, but alarms are often an issue in removing landlines.

Jonathan
We barely lock the door here so I know nothing about alarms. Are all alarms dependent on a landline?
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Jdsk
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Jdsk »

Paulatic wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 1:32pm
Jdsk wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 1:26pm I wouldn't expect anyone to say much about their own security systems, but alarms are often an issue in removing landlines.
We barely lock the door here so I know nothing about alarms. Are all alarms dependent on a landline?
Many are. But there are other solutions.

Jonathan
axel_knutt
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by axel_knutt »

Psamathe wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 12:37pm One consideration about speed - just a personal observation/thought: higher speeds allow more data faster but for things like browsing a lot can depend on the website server performance rather than how fast data is exchanged. Some sites are fast and line speed could affect some e.g. large image intensive sites but ADSL speed is not the sole determinant.
That's why you wouldn't catch me forking out for faster broadband. I once spent a whole afternoon on a speed checker just trying to measure if there was any speed difference between WiFi and Ethernet, and the results were so erratic that I achieved nothing other than to run up a huge bill. By the time you throw network speed and website speed into the mix as well it's not worth betting on. I note that Gigaclear are quoting 'average' speeds too, so what's the minimum going to drop to at peak times?
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Psamathe
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Psamathe »

Paulatic wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 1:12pm ... Mobile does appear to offer many more benefits. ....
(Circumstances vary but) for me I unplugged my landline phone several yaesr ago though the line is still in use for internet, never used for phone. I use only mobile and thanks to Wi-Fi calling have excellent coverage in the house (through Wi-Fi NOT GSM). It means that anybody calling me has just the one number and they don't have to try one number and if not, try my mobile - same number wherever I am. But then I live alone so all my calls will be for me not wife of children (or maybe they could switch to mobile only?).

Been mobile only, no landline for several years no without issues.

Also BT charge me for calls (either explicit charge per call or subscription) and I get free calls on my mobile so I pay just one subscription for free calls (to mobile company).

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[XAP]Bob
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by [XAP]Bob »

axel_knutt wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 1:48pm
Psamathe wrote: 23 Sep 2021, 12:37pm One consideration about speed - just a personal observation/thought: higher speeds allow more data faster but for things like browsing a lot can depend on the website server performance rather than how fast data is exchanged. Some sites are fast and line speed could affect some e.g. large image intensive sites but ADSL speed is not the sole determinant.
That's why you wouldn't catch me forking out for faster broadband. I once spent a whole afternoon on a speed checker just trying to measure if there was any speed difference between WiFi and Ethernet, and the results were so erratic that I achieved nothing other than to run up a huge bill. By the time you throw network speed and website speed into the mix as well it's not worth betting on. I note that Gigaclear are quoting 'average' speeds too, so what's the minimum going to drop to at peak times?

Websites aren't the only thing that uses data...
Wired is generally faster and more reliable than wireless (inside a house).

I'm looking at a couple of options for my connectivity, one of which (vermin media) would theoretically be limited because my firewall only has a gigabit ethernet connection.
There is also fibre on the pole outside my house though it's not yet activated :(
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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Paulatic
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by Paulatic »

Update:

I’ve had a few weeks of dithering resulting in staying with Plusnet and ADSL. Keeping the 4G router as a back up and for caravan sites without WiFi.
Interestingly the line speeds improved after cancelling my contract, to a consistent 7Mb +. Whether this is a coincidence or not I cannot tell. It does provide 2 GCN streams and 2x browsing without any deterioration in picture.
I got the bill down to £21/ mth only £1 more than Smarty. I’ve this price held for 24mths and I note it’s detailed as line rental with free unlimited ADSL and free evening/ weekend calls.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: ADSL or 3G 4G

Post by [XAP]Bob »

And they’ve put the light on for that fibre over the road - I have an installation date (hurrah)
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
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